Dreamescape
by Lilly Greenscale
Summary: Pitch is back, this time being assisted by a new enemy. The new nightmares are unlike anything the Guardians have ever seen. How can they fight something that they have never seen, by adding in a new Guardian, one that knows this new enemy personally.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: New Place**

It was another sleepless night for Lilly. She woke up in the middle of the night having another nightmare. They were always the same, she saw her friends being hurt, or herself, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Every time she fell asleep they started, and she found herself getting less and less sleep each night. This night was the worst ones yet, she woke up in a cold sweat, and on the verge of tears.

_ "__That's it! I'm going out for a walk. I can't sleep anyway." _Lilly thought to herself as she walked out of her room in the barracks. She stepped outside and looked up at the sky. It was a crystal clear night. _"Well, maybe I ought to just sit on the roof. It's the perfect night for it, just like the nights when I was little." _She jumped up to the roof, deciding to lie down instead of sit. She stared up at the stars and rested her head on her hands. She had always loved clear nights like this. She found the quiet beauty of the stars and moon to be very relaxing on those nights when she couldn't sleep. She was staring up at the full moon when she felt her eye lids get heavy, she resisted the sleep fearing the nightmares that she knew would come, but still, she felt her eyes close and she passed out.

She started waking up when she felt sunlight hit her face. She sat up trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes, and then felt something cold brush against her cheek. She jumped and looked around, realizing that she was lying on the snowy ground in the middle of a forest. "What the-?" She almost yelled, starting to panic a little. "How the heck did I end up here?"

Lilly stood up, looking around. She had no clue where she was, though she had the sneaking suspicion that she was somewhere in the world of the living, but she wasn't sure where. She tried to build up her spiritual pressure to jump up and get an aerial view, but realized that she could barely use it. Thoroughly confused she started looking around, and then noticed the back of her left hand. On it she found a black crescent moon shaped mark that had started glowing faintly when she tried to use her spiritual pressure. She concluded that the mark must have been some sort of seal, but who would want to seal her? She looked around again, now even more nervous.

At that moment she decided that there was no point in actually staying there, so she started walking. Then Lilly noticed that her outfit had changed too. She was in normal human clothes, a black trench coat, dark grey hoodie, jeans, and black heeled boots. It was her style, but she hadn't been wearing it last night. "This is weird… I don't remember coming here… I don't even remember falling asleep…" She muttered to herself as she started walking again. She was contemplating whether this was a dream or not, when she heard what she thought was children laughing. She quickly decided to follow the sound hoping to try to piece together where she was.

After awhile of walking Lilly reached the edge of the forest and saw a small town. She hesitantly walked toward a street hoping to talk to someone. She tried multiple times to flag someone down, only to find that they didn't notice her, and then she finally realized that they couldn't see her. _"Great." _She thought to herself. _"Now what am I going to do?" _ Seeing as how she was going to get nowhere with staying there, she walked back into the forest, deciding to do some exploring.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Someone New**

Lilly started walking around the forest trying to make sense of everything. She was walking more to try to clear her head then to actually see where she was. She ended up walking for most of the day. She kept running over what she knew, and what she didn't know. She hadn't realized how deep in thought she was until she walked into the back of a boy who was standing in a clearing. She stumbled backwards, and the boy stumbled forwards. "Sorry" Lilly muttered, though she figured that she wouldn't be heard.

The boy turned around and smiled at her. "It's alright."

Lilly's expression changed to that of surprise. "Ah, um…" She had no clue what to say.

"You ok there?" He asked.

"Y-Yeah." Lilly stuttered. She looked the boy up and down a couple of times trying to figure out what made him different from everyone else. He wielded a staff in one hand, and had on a blue hoodie with brown pants. Both the hoodie and staff seemed to be covered in a thin film of ice, or was it frost, Lilly couldn't tell. Then she noticed his white hair. _"I wonder why his hair is white?"_ She thought distractedly.

"So, you have a name?" The boy asked as she was studying him.

"Lilly, Lilly Greenscale." Lilly mumbled inattentively, still trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Nice to meet you Lilly. I'm Jack, Jack Frost that is." He grinned at her, though she seemed to not notice.

"Jack Frost?" Lilly gave him a questioning look.

"You've never heard of me? Guardian of fun? Bringer of snow days and fun times?" This time he was the one who was studying her. He noticed that she seemed to act like she was out of place. As if she were somehow thrown into a situation and place that she was unfamiliar with. She looked normal though, with only one exception, she had snow white hair, almost exactly like his. _"Where is this girl from?"_ He thought to himself.

"Can't say that I have… though, I'm not from around here, so that might be why I've never heard of you." Lilly started fidgeting with her necklace, a bad habit she had picked up from her aunt. She didn't like the fact this boy was staring at her. It was making her nervous, although, just about anyone paying her any attention made her nervous. She couldn't help looking around, trying to find a means of escape.

"Oh? Where are you from then? If you can see me then you have to believe in me." Jack finally said after a bit, he still wasn't sure why Lilly looked so nervous.

"Th-That's a long story. One I don't think you have time for." Lilly said as she took a step back.

"I've got plenty of time if you're up for telling me, but I won't make you if you don't want to." He decided not to push Lilly too much. He tried to reassure her with a smile, but she kept studying the ground.

"I… I don't know…" Lilly finally muttered. She glanced up at him, trying desperately not to look terrified. Then she heard a noise behind her. "What the-?!" She spun around facing toward the sound. Her hand automatically reached for her sword hilt, and rather than gripping air, she felt it materialize in her hand, so she unsheathed it, getting into a ready stance.

"What was that?" Jack asked curiously. Judging by Lilly's reaction he got into a ready fighting stance, preparing to use his staff. "Lilly, do you know what that was?"

"Well… it was one of two things; ether it was a hollow, or a careless person who stepped on a branch and spooked me. Judging by the feeling I'm getting, I'm going to go with hollow." Lilly calmly stated as she kept her eyes glued to the spot where the sound came from.

"What the heck is a hollow?" Jack questioned, now thoroughly confused by the girl standing in front of him. "And where did that sword come from?"

"Look," Lilly growled back over her shoulder at him, "I'm sure you have a million questions for me, but I can't answer them at the moment. Now stay put there. I'm going to go investigate." She turned her head toward the spot again. _"I can't believe this, I'm stuck in a new place, with no spiritual pressure what's so ever, and I have to fight a rather high class hollow. If I wasn't a captain I would be very worried, but I should be able to handle this…" _Lilly thought to herself as she was about to start running. She stopped when she felt a hand grip her shoulder. She jumped a little, glancing at Jack.

"Now hold on, I'm not going to let you go by yourself." He frowned a little as he felt her jump.

Lilly frowned and shook his hand off of her shoulder. "I'm not some weak girl who needs protecting. I can take care of myself." She took off toward the noise, almost at a full run.

Jack sighed. "Well that's just great." He muttered under his breath quickly following Lilly. "Hey! That's not what I meant!" He yelled after her. He quickly caught up to her and followed a few steps behind her.

She stopped abruptly and spun around glaring up at him. He just had enough time to stop before walking into her, but he was still almost nose to nose with her. "Stop following me! I don't need your help! You will only get in the way!" Lilly yelled in his face.

Jack blinked a couple of times and took a step back. "I-I didn't mean…" He started.

"I'm sorry." Lilly interrupted him. She bit her lip and looked down. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that." She muttered looking completely dejected.

"Hey it's alright." Jack said trying his best to smile. He saw her look and was trying to figure out a way to make her see he wasn't upset, when he heard a horrific screech. "What the heck was that!?" He yelled.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Attack**

Lilly spun around at the sound of the screech. She quickly drew her sword up closer to her chest, getting into a guarded position. Lilly studied the area where the screech came from, trying to piece together the entire situation. Jack seemed to follow suit, pointing his staff directly at where he thought the sound came then a large hollow burst from the trees, barreling straight toward them. Lilly took in a short gasping breath and stepped backwards, almost stepping on Jack. "MOVE!" Lilly yelled frantically, shoving Jack one way while she jumped the other way.

"Oof!" Jack moaned as he hit the ground after Lilly shoved him. The hollow ran right past where they had been standing. He couldn't help sitting there in shock for a couple of seconds. The hollow reminded him of a nightmare. It was large and had a bony body, and a horrific mask covered its face, if it even had one. What startled him the most was the hole in the middle of the chest of the creature. It was a completely hollowed out, and big enough that he could easily stick his arm through. "I-Is that-?"

"Yes," Lilly cut him short, cautiously watching the hollow's movements. "That is a hollow." She tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword, trying to keep her focus and stay calm. She was more un-nerved than normal. "How am I going to do this?" She muttered.

Jack couldn't help looking between Lilly and the hollow. "You fight this all the time?" He asked in total shock.

"Generally yes, this is what I fight." Lilly muttered back. The hollow then took a swipe at a tree, causing it to explode. The impact sent shards of the tree directly at the two. Lilly took a step back, and then glanced around. Finding no way to actually get out of the way, she held out her hand willing the air around her to form into a shield. With a faint glint of sky blue Lilly watched the shards of the tree bounce against the shield. Even though the shield was strong, one of the shards broke through the barrier and buried itself into Lilly's shoulder. She groaned and dropped to a knee, clutching her shoulder.

"LILLY!" Jack shouted, as he rushed to her side.

"I'm fine Jack!" She hissed through clenched teeth as she stood up. Any movement of her arm caused excruciating pain, and she could feel the wound bleeding severely. She bit back the pain and tried to blink the spots out of her eyes. Without realizing it, she had started to fall forward.

"No, you're not. Lilly let me help you." Jack firmly stated as he reached out a hand to steady her.

"I don't need your help!" Lilly growled.

"Yes, you do!" Jack yelled, he noticed the hollow spin toward them and charge. Without thinking, he grabbed Lilly by her good arm and pulled her out of the way of the hollow. "See?"

"Fine!" Lilly hissed. "Bloom and Split Chari Burosunben." Lilly muttered. She watched as her sword started to glow, then split into two smaller swords, one had three short ribbons at the end of the hilt; the other had a short chain with an upside down crescent moon at the end. The one with the ribbons she shoved into Jack's arms. "Take that, it's the only thing that will kill it."

Jack fumbled with the sword for a second then looked down at it. "I'm not used to using a sword, I like using my staff."

"Well, use your staff then, just keep a hand on that sword so if you need it, then you have it." Lilly looked around, then took off running, her eyes glinted sky blue again as she took a leap and forced the wind under her feet to push her up and remain hard enough for her to stand on. She charged at the hollow, slicing at one of its arms.

Jack also took off using his staff to help him control the wind. He took up a position just behind the hollow. He heard the hollow screech in pain and watched it stumble backwards. Then he watched it swat at Lilly again. "Careful Lilly!" He shouted as she barely dodged out of the way. He realized quickly that yelling was a mistake as the hollow spun around to face him and swatted at him. He blinked, and Lilly was standing in front of him. She expertly blocked the attack, grimacing quite a bit.

"You have to be careful too." Lilly whispered, barely managing to speak. "I'm relying on you…" She glanced back over her shoulder and smiled faintly. Most of the color had drained from her face, and it looked as if she were going to collapse.

Growing concerned quickly, Jack frowned upon seeing Lilly's condition. He could see blood dripping down her hand, and when she looked at him her eyes were dull and not as reflective as they should have been. He looked at the hollow once more trying to figure out what he could do. "How do we get rid of it?" He muttered.

"You break the mask on its head." Lilly murmured. "I'll distract it, and then you strike from behind." She took off, dashing at the hollow and slicing at its arms.

Jack watched as Lilly took off and continued to frown. He looked for a clear way to continue but couldn't figure out where to strike. He knew that she said to break the mask, but he didn't know the best way to do it with a sword. After realizing that, he pointed his staff at the hollows head and fired a shot of ice. He hit his mark and the hollows head froze solid. After Lilly saw that the hollow was immobilized she took advantage of the ice and sliced through the hollow which disintegrated on impact.

Struggling to stay conscious Lilly knew that she didn't have enough energy left to make it to the ground, but she tried to anyway. She was able to float almost all the way down before finally loosing consciousness and thumping to the ground. Jack shot down next to her. He knelt down and gently rolled her onto her back. He didn't know what to do, but he knew he needed to do something quick. He saw the strap that held her sword to her back and quickly untied it, then wrapped it around her injured shoulder as a bandage. Then he gently picked her up and rested her against a tree. Not wanting to leave her alone, he sat down next to her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Meeting**

Jack stayed next to Lilly until it was dark. He kept checking on her to make sure that she was alright, but the fact that she was hurt bothered him the most. He didn't understand why she kept trying to protect him even though he didn't need protecting. He looked up at the full moon, starting to frown again. Then he noticed an aurora borealis shimmer across the sky. He smiled faintly and stood up, knowing exactly what that meant. Then he glanced back at Lilly, he knew he couldn't leave her. So instead he gently picked her up, making sure to keep a firm grip on his staff, and took off.

It didn't take him long to reach where he was going, he focused in on the solitary building that had been built at the North Pole and quickly entered. He followed the sounds of an argument and quickly found the rest of the people that had gathered.

"Ah so you are here Jack" A big burly man with a Russian accent commented as he finally took notice of Jack's presence.

"Yeah, well who is he carrying?" Another voice chimed in, this one with an Australian accent.

"Her name's Lilly, Bunny." Jack shot back at the 7 foot tall Jackrabbit that was glaring at him. "She got hurt North, I need you to help her." Jack quickly replied, addressing the man with the Russian accent.

"Hm… I'll have one of the Yetis bandage her up." North quickly walked over to Jack and tried to take Lilly out of his arms, but Jack backed up a step.

"I can carry her myself North." Jack firmly stated.

"Now Jack, we have other matters to discuss." North quietly replied as he reached for Lilly again only to have Jack back up and hold Lilly a little closer to his chest.

"North, I'm telling you that I can carry her myself. Alright? I don't trust your Yeti's not to drop her." Jack frowned.

North scoffed, looking a little hurt. "You don't trust my Yeti's? Enough of this foolishness Jack, she will be just fine."

Jack continued to frown, but reluctantly let one of the Yetis that had been standing near him to take Lilly out of his arms. He tried to follow but was stopped by North.

"Now onto to other matters, I called you all here because there have been some strange occurrences." North started. Jack tried to bypass North again, only to be stopped another time.

"You mean like Jack walking in here carrying an injured girl?" Snorted Bunny.

"What's it to you kangaroo?" Jack wheeled around and retorted. "And for your information she actually helped me, and I'm repaying the favor."

"Can we get back to the subject?" North asked with a sigh.

"Yes, please continue North." A small female voice chimed.

"Thank you Tooth, now as I was saying…" North started again.

"How did she help you? What did you do? And I am NOT a kangaroo!" Bunny yelled at Jack, interrupting North once again.

"We got attacked, and would you prefer I called you cottontail!?" Jack yelled back in reply.

"No, I would not prefer you call me cottontail!" Bunny growled.

"What am I going to do with these two…?" North muttered, rubbing his temples. "Now what was this about being attacked, Jack?"

"Yeah, we were, I don't know how to explain what we were attacked by though, Lilly called it a hollow I think." Jack muttered.

"A hollow?" North asked.

"Well that's what she called it. It was a horrible creature…" Jack started but was interrupted by a shrill shriek. He immediately spun around and darted toward where Lilly had been taken, leaving the rest of the group to follow him. He saw her holding her sword, and backing away from an approaching yeti. She darted toward him and almost ran into North. Jack watched Lilly's eyes become wide with fear as she backed up quickly, backing into a wall. She put the still sheathed sword in front of her and kept a hand on the hilt, threatening to draw it. Jack then noticed that both North and Bunny had already drawn their weapons. Jack frowned and put himself between Lilly and the rest of the group. "She's just scared, back off a bit and she'll calm down."

North reluctantly nodded and stepped back, motioning for the rest of the group to follow. "Come on. Let me tell you why I gathered you all here, while Jack calms down our guest." North started to walk away, followed reluctantly by Bunny and the other two members of the group.

"Sorry about that." Jack turned around to face Lilly, taking notice of her now trembling hands. "You're ok, don't worry about them, they aren't as scary as they seem." He smiled at her.

With a heavy sigh Lilly dropped her guard. "I didn't mean to panic. I just didn't know where I was."

Jack chuckled. "I would have had the same reaction if I had woken up to one of those yetis hanging over me. How are you doing though?"

"I'm alright, but my shoulder still hurts a little." Lilly quietly replied, as she was looking around. "Where are we exactly?"

"We're at the North Pole." Jack said as he started leading Lilly along. "Specifically, in North's workshop, that was the big guy you almost ran into."

Lilly stuck close to Jack's side as he was walking, looking around in amazement of all the things that she was seeing. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Well, I was summoned, and I couldn't just leave you. So I carried you here." Jack smiled again.

"Why were you summoned?" Lilly quietly asked.

"Well like I told you before, I'm the guardian of fun, the rest of the spirits here, their guardians as well. North, who was the big fellow with the Russian accent, is the guardian of wonder. Bunny, well he is the guardian of hope. Tooth, that was the flittering girl you saw, she guards the good memories of childhood. Lastly Sandman you can guess who he is, he brings and guards the good dreams that you have. Together we protect and watch over the children of the world." Jack explained as he stopped in front of an enormous globe. "Each one of the lights on there is a child who believes."

As Lilly looked up at the globe the hard expression on her face began to soften. "Then my sisters should be up there. They've always believed the things from stories. I was never one to believe them though. I guess that just after a while I gave up believing. I mean, I don't have too many good memories from when I was little, and the ones that I do have I wouldn't let anyone keep for me. Holidays were ok, but I was alone. My mom had to work, and the kids at school weren't nice to me, and excluded me whenever they could." She sighed and looked down.

Jack frowned hearing about what she had gone through. "That's harsh, but you can see us. So then you have to believe in us a little bit."

Lilly shook her head. "I don't believe in any of you and I never have. I think the only reason I see you is because I exist on the same plane of reality as you. No one can see me because I'm a Soul Reaper, so I've already died and am a spirit."

Jack couldn't help staring at her. "Wait, you're already dead? B-But how can you have sisters? You talk as if their still living, but you're not?"

With a sight Lilly muttered. "It's a long story."

"It's always a long story with you! Why don't you stop avoiding my questions and give me a straight answer!" Jack snapped at her, his statement becoming a little harsher than he had intended.

"You want a straight answer? Alright, I'll give you a straight answer. My name is Lilly Greenscale. I'm the Captain of Squad Five of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads of the Soul Society. I've been a Captain for roughly a year and grew up in the human world with my adoptive mother. Is there anything else you want to know?" Lilly snapped back.

Jack stared at her, not sure how to respond. Finally, he frowned. "You say that you are a Captain? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, why would anyone let a kid into anything related to military, especially one that can't even make up a convincing lie. If your trying to make fun of the idea of being dead, you're sure not doing a good job. Grow up already and stop making up stories, if you didn't want to tell me you're back story that's fine, you could have just said so, instead of making up some wild stupid story!"

Lilly scoffed. "You're calling me a liar?!" She couldn't help raising her voice. "I wouldn't lie about my past! You haven't had to live half the life I have, and if you had, you wouldn't go around calling others stupid!"

"Hold on a second, I NEVER called you stupid!" Jack yelled back.

"Oh really?! Well it sure SEEMED like you did! After all you said I couldn't make up a convincing lie!" She balled her hands into fists.

"Well you DIDN'T, it really was a stupid lie!" Jack was fuming now, he didn't understand why she kept clinging to her story, it was so unbelievable it couldn't have been true.

Lilly growled and spun around, storming away. "FINE! DON'T BELIEVE ME YOU JERK! SEE IF I CARE!"

Jack blinked at her walking away. "HEY!" He followed her and grabbed her right shoulder, spinning her around. She yelped and instinctively took a swing at him, not even realizing what she was doing, or that she was using her bad arm. Jack jumped back to avoid the swing. The sudden jarring motion of Lilly's bad shoulder caused her to moan and start to fall forward as the severe pain made her dizzy. Jack immediately reached out to catch her, and then steadied her. "Hey, are you ok? He frowned slightly.

Lilly growled and shook Jack off. "Yeah, yeah, just fine. Stop worrying about me."

"Enough with the attitude! Jeez, you are the single most stubborn person on the planet!" Jack huffed.

Lilly glared at him. "Just leave me alone…." Her words came out so soft that Jack could barely hear her.

"Hey look, I'm not out to get you, I just want the truth." Jack quietly replied back.

"I already told you the truth. What more do you want?" Lilly backed up, her frown deepening.

Jack sighed. "Alright, if you say you're telling the truth, then I'll believe you."

Lilly scoffed quietly and muttered. "Now who's the liar…"

Jack frowned. "What was that?"

"Nothing." Lilly quickly replied, eager to change the subject. She noticed North and the others staring at them and looked away quickly, feeling her cheeks redden slightly. "Um, Jack, we might want to go join the rest of your group now."

Jack tilted his head. "What, why?" He turned around to look at the group. "Oh, yeah, we should go." He smiled nervously and patted Lilly's shoulder. "No hard feelings. Ok?" He started walking, making sure she was following.

"Yeah… no hard feelings." Lilly weakly smiled back. "So how much of that little tiff do you think they heard?"

Jack chuckled. "Knowing them, all of it."

"Oh great…" Lilly sighed.

"Don't worry about it." Jack continued to smile, even though he still had a lot on his mind. "So North, could you fill the two of us in on what exactly happened." Jack asked.

North nodded. "Yes, as you may well know, there seems to be monsters attacking believers. No one has been hurt yet, and moreover, none of the children seem to see them, but the monsters are a danger none the less."

Lilly tilted her head, listening quietly as the group started talking amongst themselves. She sighed, watching how they didn't seem to pay to much attention to her. _"Typical… I'm being ignored now. Oh well, it can't be helped." _She thought to herself as she tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together on her own. Suddenly something clicked. She opened her mouth to talk, then shut it again, feeling the insecurity she always felt in groups. Finally she worked up the nerve to talk. She turned to North to address him. "So let me make sure I have this right, the kids can't see the monsters attacking them, but the monsters attack anyway?"

North blinked and turned to Lilly, as if suddenly remembering that she was actually there. "Yes, that is correct. Why?" The rest of the group quieted down to listen.

Lilly furrowed her eyebrows, a look of disdain starting to appear on her face. "It sounds like typical hollow behavior, but yet, a hollow wouldn't attack someone unless they had spiritual powers or potential for them." Lilly shifted from foot to foot, and then let out a short gasp. "Unless they were changed somehow!" She immediately started fidgeting with her necklace, as if the thought made her nervous. "That would be the only logical explanation."

"Wait, wait. What are hollows?" Bunny quickly asked.

"They are creatures that devour souls. It's my job to kill them if they get near humans or souls." Lilly replied, shifting the strap of her sword on her back.

Bunny stared at her. "Are we honestly going to believe her? For all we know she could be what is controlling the 'hollows'." He looked around at the rest of the guardians for approval of his thoughts.

Lilly glared at him and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Jack. "Bunny! If that were true a hollow wouldn't have tried to kill the both of us." Jack glanced at Lilly and saw she was still glaring.

"That doesn't mean a thing mate. She could have just done it for effect, a way to gain our trust. I mean really, it's much too coincidental that she happens to appear just as these monsters appear." Bunny sighed, ignoring the glare from Lilly.

Lilly blinked, and then stepped back, the implications of what Bunny was saying finally dawning on her. "Are you saying that I came here to cause trouble?" She looked down, letting out a low growl. "You know, it wasn't my idea to come here! I WOKE UP HERE!" She yelled as she spun around. She started to stomp away, but was stopped by Jack placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you have to calm down. I know you don't like people questioning you, but you have to understand where we are coming from. Put yourself in our shoes, we don't know what's going on, and we don't know how to handle this, so someone randomly showing up at the exact same time is a little suspicious." Jack quietly told Lilly, trying to prevent her from causing any more trouble for herself. "And you have to admit, you're not doing yourself any favors by storming off like this."

Lilly slapped his hand off of her shoulder. "At the moment I really don't care!" She spat back at him, continuing to walk away. "I don't like being around people who jump to conclusions." She was stopped again by Tooth flying in front of her.

"Please, I know you don't want to stay, but at least stay long enough for us to ask Manny what to do." Tooth smiled gently at Lilly.

Lilly stumbled back, not used to having someone fly up to her to stop her. "Manny? Who is that?"

Jack walked up next to her. "Manny is the nickname we use for the Man in the Moon."

"Man in the Moon? And you all think I'm crazy?" Lilly laughed. "You have got to be kidding me. That's nothing but a story you tell little kids."

"Lilly, please." Jack put as much warning into his words as he could.

Bunny glared at Lilly. "Oh so you don't believe in any of us. Well this is just great."

Lilly spun around. "So what if I don't! It's not like it affects you any!" She crossed her arms across her chest and muttered. "Besides, its not like I go running around telling kids not to believe in you, in fact I always tell my sisters stories about all of you." She shrugged her shoulders glancing at every one of them. "I might not believe in you, but I know better that to ruin a kid's childhood by taking all the hope, wonder, and faith out of it." She looked down, studying the floor.

Jack finally understood why Lilly seemed to not believe in any of them, everything she was trying to share with the other children were the things that she didn't have. He couldn't help smiling a little. "Well for now, let's just keep the peace between all of us for the sake of getting to the bottom of this mystery. We can all argue about who's done what later."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A New Enemy**

Everyone nodded, starting to chat amongst themselves again, except for Lilly, whom slunk off to a corner by herself. She wanted to think about everything more, trying to remember if she had seen anything peculiar about the hollow she had fought with Jack. She couldn't think of anything and wanted to ask Jack for his thoughts, but she chose to stay back. She had to face the facts, she didn't belong there. She looked around the workshop, still wondering in the back of her mind if there was a way for her to leave without being noticed. "I wish I had my spiritual pressure… I would just dimension jump back to the Soul Society, and do more research there…" She muttered to herself as she sat down with her back against the wall. Pulling her knees up to her chest she fought off the urge to cry squeezing her eyes closed and letting her forehead rest against her knees. "All I want to do is go home… I'm not wanted, or needed, so why am I here?" She muttered again.

Jack saw Lilly sit down and walked over to her, just in enough time to hear her muttering about not being wanted. He frowned faintly and kneeled down in front of her. "Hey Lilly. Are you ok?"

Lilly's head shot up, then she looked away. "I'm fine Jack, why don't you go back to the other guardians." She tried to hide the fact that all she wanted to do was cry.

Jack frowned more. "Lilly, please don't think that just because Bunny ran his mouth without thinking that…"

"Jack! I'm fine!" Lilly cut him off. "Just go. There isn't much I can do to help anyway." She let her head thump against her knees again.

"Lilly, that's not true and you know it." Jack sat down next to her. "Look I know you had a bit of a rough welcome here, and I'm just as guilty as everyone else for calling you something your obviously not, but that doesn't mean that you can't help us. Can't you see that you're the best chance we have of solving this problem?"

Lilly glanced at him. "What right do you have to say I can be helpful?!" She was visibly holding back her tears. "I'm not one of your guardians! I'm a soul reaper! It's my job to fight hollows and escort souls to the Soul Society, not baby sit children! As much as you want to make me like you, you can't! So just LEAVE ME BE!" Lilly pushed Jack away and jumped to her feet, starting to run. She could feel her cheeks becoming wet as she tried to hide her tears. She darted away from the group, having no clue where she was actually going.

"Lilly!" Jack stood up. "Why does she always run?" He couldn't help starting to run after her. He watched North reach out to stop Lilly, and how she dodged around him with deadly accuracy. In fact, she dodged around all of them. _"Jeez, is this how all 'soul reapers' are?" _Jack thought as he continued to watch Lilly. Then he saw the moon come out from behind a cloud and shine brightly down into the workshop.

Lilly didn't stop, that is, until she ran through a sliver of light from the moon. She hadn't been planning on stopping, but suddenly she felt the world spin around her and fell to the floor. She groaned lightly and tried to move, then she saw the seal on her hand glowing bright like the moonlight, that's when she realized why she couldn't move.

Jack ran to Lilly, kneeling down by her. "What happened?" He helped her sit up, and saw the back of her hand. "What is that?"

Lilly groaned again, her head was still spinning, but she managed to put a coherent thought together. "The mark, on my hand… it's a seal to keep my spiritual pressure at a minimum level." She looked around. "It was already working, now it's sapping everything…"

"What does that mean?" Jack couldn't keep the concern from his face. "Are you going to be ok?"

Lilly nodded. "I should be fi-…" Her head lulled to the side as her body became limp.

"LILLY!" Jack yelled, shaking her shoulders gently, she didn't respond and remained limp. He then noticed the glowing mark on her hand begin to fade. Jack looked back at the rest of the guardians, then up at the moon.

North frowned at the debacle then walked over to Jack. "Jack… Why did she have a seal?"

"Like I would know that." Jack muttered.

North looked up at the moon. "Well then, Manny, what are we supposed to do?"

The moon seemed to glow brighter, and shadows started to form on the floor. First it was a man, whom chuckled darkly. The guardians all looked at each other, recognizing him. Then another shadow appeared, this one seemed more feminine in nature, and let out a shrill shriek, but no one knew who she was. Although Jack could have sworn Lilly flinched at the shriek.

North looked around, and then back up at the moon. "What do you suggest we do Manny?"

The floor opened and a large crystal on a pedestal rose up. "Oh no, not this again…" Bunny muttered.

Jack frowned. "What's going on?"

"The last time something happened, you were picked to become a guardian. Now Manny is once again picking someone else." Bunny grumbled.

"Well thanks for making me feel welcome." Jack muttered as he rolled his eyes.

"Manny must be convinced that we need someone's help." North chided, trying to prevent an argument.

"I wonder who it's going to be this time?" Tooth excitedly asked.

The moonlight reflected through the blue crystal, sending mirrored reflections across the room. After a few seconds an image started to form over the crystal. Everyone watched intently, not sure what to expect. Finally, a ghostly form of a crescent moon formed over the crystal. Jack glanced at North, who frowned, seemingly puzzled by this apparition.

"You have to be joking…" Bunny mumbled.

"What does that mean?" Jack inquired. Lilly let out a sharp gasp and sat up, then stood up looking slightly disorientated. "Lilly!" Jack stood up quickly. Ready to help her if she stumbled.

"Not funny." Lilly hissed, glaring at the moon. "But to answer your question and mine as well, your 'Manny' wants me to help you, and the only way he can do that is by making me a guardian." She sighed and started walking toward the globe, seeming to scan over it. "It appears as if an old enemy of yours has teamed up with an old enemy of mine, so we have to work together." She stretched her arm out to her side, and after muttering a word, the very air around her hand seemed to ripple then contort as she seemed to grasp the strap of a knapsack, which slowly took shape before suddenly seeming to fall out of the air. Lilly immediately grabbed the main bag of the knapsack and opened it, starting to dig through it. Finally she pulled a laptop from the bag then shouldered the knapsack. "We've got a lot of work to do…." She glanced back over her shoulder. "Beginning with me explaining exactly what we are dealing with."


End file.
